Windows 10 is getting an icon design overhaul after Office received new icons

Microsoft is modernizing its icons as part of a broader focus on design for its various Office apps.

Microsoft overhauled its Office icons last week after a period of five years and it now seems like the company is also changing its Windows 10 icons alongside its Office suite.

New Microsoft Office icons. Image: Medium/ Jon Friedman

Microsoft is modernizing its icons as part of a broader focus on design for its various Office apps, as per a blog post by Jon Friedman, partner director of design at Microsoft. While the Redmond company is yet to state it officially, the blog post did suggest that once the changes to Office are made, the design changes will be scaled across all Microsoft products including Window 10.

As spotted in a report by The Verge, Friedman in a response to a question about Visio and other Office apps, reveals that "those are coming in subsequent stages," and that "it is a huge undertaking to build a common system and design (Windows) 10 icons at the same time".

The head of Microsoft Office Design in another response on the blog post asked the reader to "stay tuned, this is the beginning of a cross-company effort to update all icons in the same style".

Now, Microsoft has in the past tried a number of design changes for Windows, however, Windows 10 still features icons in some parts of the OS that have been there for the better part of a decade. If Friedman's post is anything to go by, Microsoft is finally working on a broad icon design across the entire company and it could finally put an end to past inconsistencies.

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